Trusting God

Nahum 1:7 “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.”

He only knows those who trust in him. Knowing him is quite important: see below.

Matthew 7:21,22,23 (21)“Not everyone that says ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. (22) Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord,’ have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? (24) And then I will profess unto them ‘Depart from me you workers of iniquity, I never knew you.’”

Jesus states in Matthew that even though you worked miracles, if you do not “know” God, you will be sent away on the day of judgement. If you know Him, you will know that trusting him is the best thing for you to do, and it won’t be hard to do.

I. To trust him you must know him.

A. To trust you must know. You need a relationship with him that is not just praying when you need something or for the food at dinner.

1. PRAYING: 1 Thessalonians 5:17 statest that we should “pray without ceasing.” This doesn’t mean that we should always have our hands folded, head bowed, and eyes shut. It implies a relationship of continual contact and fellowship between you and God.

2. SPENDING TIME: Abraham made a covenant with God in Gen 15:18, showing the kind of relationship we need to have. The talked to each other, and Abraham wasn’t doing all the talking - or asking - either. He got to know God by the time he spent with him.

11. Spending time with someone seems to be the number one way to know them. My twins seem very much alike until you spend time with them, and then they are very different. Same with anyone, really. See: being introduced to a bunch of strangers at an event.

3. LISTENING: Ephesians 3:1-3 Paul makes the statements that you can get to know God by listening to the “dispensation of the word, you-ward.” Basically, listening to teaching and/or preaching.

4. READING: Ephesians 3:4 Paul also goes on to say that this preaching will help in understanding what you read. Reading his word helps in getting to know God.

B. By knowing God and his will for us, trusting him will be made easier.

II. If you trust him, you will be faithful to obey, doing his will, regardless of logic.

A. Matthew 25:21 “Well done thy good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make the ruler over many things: enter thou into the the joy of the Lord.

1. Notice that it didn’t say “good and honest, or smart, or annointed, or punctual.” It says “faithful.” Faithfulness means doing it even though we don’t know why, or understand why.

a. We have all heard sermons on the Will of God, and we have learned that God desires the best for his children, yet how we get the “best” is what brings the confusion.

b. This seems to be one of our biggest challenges: being faithful to do God’s will even though we don’t understand why, and in spite of our own logic.”

11. Proverbs 3:5,6 states that we should “Lean not to your own understanding.” This seems to be a hard thing to do. Sometimes we think we know what should happen or what He should do. See the following example:

22. Numbers 13:26-33, 14:8, 9-12. Even though there were giants in the land, Caleb trusted God to do what he said, although the other Israelites looked at the circumstances and leaned on common sense. In verse 10 you see that people will get mad! “Be reasonable.” “Use some common sense.” Numbers 14:23-24 tells what happens to those who believe and those who do not.

33. 1 Corinthians 1:25 “Foolishness of God is wiser than men.”

aa. 2 Kings 5:9-14 Elisha told Naaman to cleanse his disease by washing in the Jordan River 7 times. This made Naaman angry because he had a different way in mind. His own logical understanding told him the way he thinks it should work. Elisha’s way sounded foolish to him. It worked, though, when he finally did what he was supposed to.

bb. Abraham in Genesis 15-17 is promised a son, and does it his own way instead of trusting God’s way. He pays for his mistrust by getting a bad son, Ishmael, who still haunts the Jews to this day. b. Sometimes we don’t know where God is going; we don’t understand what he is doing, and we don’t necessarily have our own way.